Contents

A USS Voyageraway team is sent to a market place on the Mokrahomeworld to purchase tellerium. After CaptainKathryn Janeway examines a sample, Neelix is told to purchase it and not to negotiate over the price. They need it badly. After Neelix has left, Tuvok notices some Mokra soldiers entering the market place, they seem to be looking for the away team. Although Tuvok is able to hit one of them with his phaser, he and B'Elanna Torres are captured. When Janeway has fought off a Mokra soldier and is about to contact Voyager, she is grazed by phaser fire in her neck and falls down. When the Mokra soldier removes her combadge, he is violently pushed against a wall by a man.

In engineering, Harry Kim and First OfficerChakotay are discussing the situation they are in. They are badly in need of the tellerium as the antimatter reaction rate in the warp core is approaching 9%. When this happens the plasma injectors will lockup, leaving them unable to reinitialize the nacelles and thus leave Voyager without warp propulsion. To save power, and keep the reaction rate above 9%, the only option left is to power down their shields. At this point they are contacted by Neelix, who informs them the away team has been captured by the Mokra, but that he has the tellerium. Neelix is beamed directly to engineering where Kim uses the tellerium to stabilize the anti-matter reaction rate. Chakotay tries to contact the Captain but gets no answer. He discusses the capture of the away team with Neelix, wondering how the Mokra knew that Voyager personnel were on the planet. Neelix suspects a Mokra informer, although the ship's only contact was with the Alsaurian resistance movement. Their conversation is interrupted by Harry Kim, who has brought the warp engine online, restoring the ship's warp capability.

On the bridge, helmsmanTom Paris is ordered to bring Voyager out from the moon behind which they were hiding and to set a course to the Mokra homeworld. Meanwhile Neelix informs Chakotay that the Mokra are paranoid and hostile, and have little use for diplomacy. While approaching the planetVoyager is detected by the Mokra orbital sensor net and is hailed by Augris, third magistrate of the Mokra Order. When Augris hears that some members of Voyager are on his planet, he is not happy with it and sends a copy of the Mokra regulations to them, for future reference. When he learns that Chakotay believes they might be detained by the Mokra, Augris tells them that he will look in to it. Neelix does not believe that Augris will help them as he is nothing like the Mokra he has met before.

Although Commander Chakotay wants to try a diplomatic solution first, he does order a continuous surface scan of the planet, just in case.

Meanwhile, in a Mokra jail, B'Elanna notices a control circuit, which might be controlling the force field at the jail's entrance. Tuvok warns her not to tamper with it and just wait but Torres gets a shock from the force field. As Tuvok has no idea whether any member of the away team made it back to Voyager there is nothing left to do but wait.

Captain Janeway awakens in the home of her rescuer, Caylem, an older Alsaurian man who believes she is his long-lost daughter, Ralkana. At first she denies it, telling him her real name and that she is a starshipcaptain, but he doesn't appear convinced. He gives Janeway a necklace that originally belonged to his wife, but Janeway is more interested in finding her crew members and escaping.

Janeway asks Caylem for a communications device to contact Voyager, but the Alsaurians are prohibited by the Mokra from having them. While Caylem is showing Janeway the letters he wrote for his imprisoned wife, Mokra soldiers appear and demand entry. Caylem and Janeway escape the house before the Mokra break in.

The Mokra remove Tuvok from the cell with Torres to interrogate him. Torres puts up a fight, but Tuvok orders her to stand down.

Caylem wants to join Janeway in her attempt to free her crew from prison, believing he can save his wife at the same time. Janeway is very resistant to the idea, but they approach a member of the Alsaurian resistance with connections to an arms dealer. The resistance member suggests trading the necklace Caylem gave Janeway for a weapon. She is reluctant, but Caylem encourages her to make the trade.

After a long wait, the weapons dealer appears wearing Mokra military boots. Suspecting a trap, Janeway walks away.

In the Mokra prison, Tuvok is returned to the cell with Torres, having been obviously tortured. While Vulcans can block out pain to a certain extent, this ability is limited. Torres wants to fight back and try to escape, but Tuvok cautions that physical resistance is ineffective in this situation and they can best resist by refusing to give information.

Aboard Voyager, Chakotay's scans of and attempts to penetrate the sensor net around the Mokra prison are detected, and Augris gives the crew two minutes to leave before opening fire with the 85 ground-based phased ion cannons on the planet.

Janeway comes up with another idea to infiltrate the prison. She entices one of the sentries, who drops his guard and is promptly struck over the head by Caylem. Janeway takes the guard's phaser and Caylem his knife. Meanwhile back on Voyager Ensign Kim comes up with a means of tricking the sensor net by sending out dozens of radion beams from the ship's main deflector, one of these beams would carry transporter signal of the rescue team. Upon firing the first volley of radions however, the ship comes under fire from the ion cannons on the surface which knocked the main deflector offline. Chakotay orders Ensign Kim to scan the planet one more time before breaking orbit to get out of weapons range. Before leaving orbit Voyager's sensors detected a disruption in the shields, around the prison most likely due to sabotage, by Captain Janeway and the resistance members. Taking this turn of fortune as a good sign, Lieutenant Paris offers to lead the away-team, down to make a surgical strike to remove the Captain and the other crewmembers. Commander Chakotay agrees but informs him they might not be able to wait for long after the transport. After beaming Paris' rescue team to the surface, they come under heavy fire again, and are about to withdraw when Harry discovers a magnetic storm over the northern magnetic pole which scatters the sensors of the detection grid, and enables Voyager to hide a little longer. Back on the surface Paris, Janeway and the other resistance members free Tuvok and Torres but wind up being captured. Augris tells Janeway and the resistance members that Caylem had made other efforts to infiltrate the prison to rescue his wife... who had been dead for 12 years. They had been letting him go as a show of the futility of challenging the Mokra. Augris also tells Caylem that his daughter was killed, and tells him his foolishness has condemned another innocent woman. He orders the others taken back for questioning (and likely more torture) with the exception of Janeway whom he wants to interrogate himself. In a rage, Caylem leaps at Augris and they get into a struggle the others take this opportunity to attack the guards. With a intense firefight that ensues Caylem stabs Augris to death with his own knife and jumps in the way of a Disruptor aimed at Janeway. As he dies in her arms, she accepts the role of his daughter and tells him she and her mother forgive him, his last words to her were "My sweet girl". The resistance members say that his actions will not be forgotten. Back on Voyager Ensign Kim gives the somber looking Captain, a status report on the Warp drive and Main-deflector. After asking about her welfare, she thanks him and he leaves, she picks up the necklace that Caylem gave to her (apparently the resistance members gave it back to her before she left) and holds it tightly, with tears welling up in her eyes, recognizing how much he loved his family.

This episode or film summary is incomplete

This episode summary has been identified as lacking essential detail, and as such needs attention. Feel free to edit this page to assist with this expansion.

Please obey copyright policy; do not copy material from other sources without permission.

"Vulcans are capable of suppressing certain levels of physical pain. Beyond that, we must simply endure the experience."

- Tuvok, to Torres after being tortured

"Caylem!"
"Ralkana. He said you'd been shot."
"He was lying to you, father. I'm all right."
"And your mother?"
"Fine. She was so happy to get your letters. She wants me to tell you something. She forgives you. We both do."

- Janeway, assuming the role of his daughter to soothe the dying Caylem

Friedman and Ryan had unsuccessfully pitched several ideas to Star Trek: The Next Generation before proposing the story concept that ultimately developed into this episode. Kevin Ryan recalled, "Mike and I both liked what we had seen on Star Trek: Voyager so far, and thought it was time to try again. We came up with a few ideas, and one of them was of one of the characters on the USS Voyager becoming the Dulcinea to an alien Don Quixote character. You had an apparently crazy old man who's on a quest, in which one of the characters (who eventually becomes Janeway) gets involved. It was a fun story, and there seemed to be a lot of opportunity for the kind of character interplay that they do so well on Star Trek." (Star Trek Monthly issue 11) Regarding the merits of this idea, Friedman remarked, "It never hurts to go with a high concept. When one says 'Don Quixote,' there's no need to elaborate on the conflict or the plot points. It's just a matter of imagining our Trek characters superimposed on that landscape." (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36)

In the pitching session wherein the writers suggested this idea, they did so to co-executive producer Jeri Taylor via telephone. Kevin Ryan noted, "We set up our pitch session on the phone – our first phone pitch, actually." (Star Trek Monthly issue 11) The writers simultaneously pitched an additional five other story ideas; this plot idea was the second of the six concepts. (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36)

Although Jeri Taylor liked some of the other story ideas, she was most interested in the second pitch. (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36) Kevin Ryan noted, "Jeri graciously took our pitch. She responded to the story immediately, and liked the idea of the Don Quixote angle character, and that was it." (Star Trek Monthly issue 11) Jeri Taylor promised to contact the writing duo in a day or two but the pair's elation at this news was initially guarded, since they were unsure whether Taylor would keep her word. Much to Friedman's pleasant surprise, Taylor indeed contacted the writers in a couple of days, with news that she wanted to buy the story from them. (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36)

However, Jeri Taylor also advised several changes to the story, including a significant character change. Kevin Ryan recalled, "She made some comments on the story [....] It was Jeri who actually suggested it become a Janeway story, and of course she was right, that's exactly what it needed to be." (Star Trek Monthly issue 11) Of the plot concept following this change, Michael Jan Friedman recalled it was "[still] an homage to that Man of La Mancha guy: 'Janeway plays Dulcinea to a Kazon Don Quixote' [....] We figured Janeway would be reluctant to go along with anything a Kazon had in mind, especially if he was a deluded Kazon intent on tilting at windmills." (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36)

Coincidentally, Jeri Taylor received an extremely similar pitch from a female writer, the very next day after having accepted Friedman and Ryan's pitch. Taylor consequently had to turn the woman down. Friedman noted, "Had we pitched two days later, we were told, it would have been that other writer who got the assignment and not us." (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36)

Friedman and Ryan then wrote their idea into a story that they titled "Maranek," imbuing the story with sentimentality. According to Friedman, the story's central character was "a grizzled old revolutionary striving to carry out a mission that had long since become irrelevant to everyone except him." Friedman added, "Like its inspiration, the story fairly dripped with pathos." (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36)

Although Friedman and Ryan's active involvement in the story ended after this, Jeri Taylor kept them apprised of all story developments throughout the rest of the writing process. Friedman was very impressed and pleased by her inclusiveness. (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36)

The story was passed to new staff writer Lisa Klink, for her to write the script. As such, this is the first of thirteen Voyager episodes for which Klink was credited as being involved in writing. "I kind of thought they would get me started a little more slowly," Klink said of the producers, "maybe doing some rewrites, maybe doing some story work, but 'Resistance' was the first thing they hit me with." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages)

Lisa Klink was handed the earliest version of the story a month after joining the series' writing staff, tasked with crafting it into her first teleplay. (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6) She noted, "I'd been here just a few weeks when they got me started on 'Resistance'." (Star Trek Monthly issue 21) Klink further recalled, "They had bought this story from freelancers, and it had kind of been shelved temporarily." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) She found the premise to be very problematic. "It wasn't an easy story or an easy script to do." (Star Trek Monthly issue 21) "First, because it's about the old guy," she explained. "How do you make it about Janeway? The second problem was [that] the story's episodic. They go here; they go there. We needed an overall arc to the story, and Janeway needed to be driving it." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) Klink also recalled, "It was basically a Don Quixote kind of story, which is inherently episodic and about somebody else! So, it becomes how do you make this about us? It's not going to be one of our people crazy; it's Janeway hooking up with this crazy guy, so how do you make it about her? And why wouldn't she just ditch him? You had to make him crazy, but still somewhat helpful, but not so helpful that she's not driving the story!" The challenge of organizing the plot into her first teleplay showed Klink that the series' producers were investing considerable faith in her. "It turned out to be very gratifying," she noted, "because they showed a lot of confidence in me right away." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6)

Some changes that Michael Jan Friedman was aware of, from his perspective of now being officially uninvolved in the episode's writing process, were the change of the Kazon character to being an alien-of-the-week, the alteration in episode title to "Resistance", and the addition of the melon scene, which was Lisa Klink's idea. (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 37) Kevin Ryan felt that the story remained much the same as he and Friedman had pitched it, however. "The basic relationship between Janeway and the old man, which was really the core of our story, remained the same throughout," Ryan said. "Everybody who worked on it seemed to agree that it was the important element. There were a few changes in the window dressing elements but the main relationship points stayed the same, which was gratifying." Remarking on the speed at which the script was turned out, Ryan commented, "The next thing we know, [...] they have a wonderful script, so it was really a dream experience." (Star Trek Monthly issue 11)

The producers demonstrated even more confidence in Lisa Klink than they already had done, when the fledgling writer was allowed to polish the script herself. Although the prospect of undertaking the rewrite process was frustrating for Klink, she also wanted to succeed at the task. "It's like, 'OK, you did well – now do better!" Klink remarked. "My style of writing tends to be understated, subtle and underplayed. The comments and the notes I tend to get are, 'Make it more,' or, 'Bring that out more.' And it's like, 'Can't you just tell me to fix a line or something?' So, it was like stretching myself an extra bit. But I was really pleased that they felt that I could do it, and I wanted to prove them right and take on the challenge, and find out for myself if I could do it." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6)

Lisa Klink was not entirely alone in scripting the episode, however. Concerning the decision to have Janeway masquerade as a prostitute, Klink recalled, "There was a lot of discussion about that. Somebody – I forget who, but it wasn't me – came up with the idea of her distracting the guard by pretending to be a hooker. We went round and round on that for a while. Is that going to diminish the Captain in some way? Is that the typical bimbo thing to do?" Jeri Taylor firmly believed that this plot element was acceptable, considering Janeway's predicament at the time. Taylor remembered, "When we [first] talked about that, every eye in the room turned to me and said, 'Are you alright with that?' If I were down there, trying to save my people, I would do anything and if that seemed like a good idea I would do it in a minute. Would my dignity and my sense of feminism prevent me from helping my people? Absolutely not." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, pp. 91 & 92)

Lisa Klink later learned that Jeri Taylor had intentionally tested her with the challenge of scripting the episode. Klink stated, "Jeri told me later, 'I pretty much threw you into the deep end to see if you could swim, and you can!'" (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6) Klink similarly related, "As Jeri Taylor likes to say, they threw me in the deep end and hoped I could swim!" Laughing, Klink added, "I'm still here. So I guess I could swim well enough." (Star Trek Monthly issue 21)

Despite having found the script hard to write, Klink was eventually relieved at having done so. "I still think that script would have been difficult," she opined, "even if it had been my 100th, you know. But again, it really was the best way to learn." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6) She also explained, "Getting that one under my belt really gave me a lot of confidence [....] I guess it was probably for the best that I started with a very tough show, because if it had been easy, I probably would have gotten very spoiled and then, when things got hard for me, I wouldn't have been as prepared for dealing with them. So, I'm actually glad things worked out the way they did." (Star Trek Monthly issue 21)

Of Klink's work on the story, Michael Jan Friedman commented, "She managed to take what we were saying and make it a whole lot more eloquent." Friedman also regarded the melon scene that Klink added as being "maybe the best [scene] in the whole episode". (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 37)

Lisa Klink liked how this episode made Janeway have to deal with an unfamiliar situation. "Getting Janeway into a completely different milieu, where she's not on the bridge, she's not being captain, was all wonderful for the character," Klink said. "One of the best things you can do for a character is get them out of their normal situation." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6) In particular, Klink was ultimately pleased that she and the then-members of Voyager's writing staff had gone ahead with accepting the notion of Janeway masquerading as a prostitute. "The fact is, it worked," she remarked. "Given what their situation was and what they had available to them, it was a clever thing to do. I think it really doesn't hurt to show the Captain doing something different, to show she is an attractive woman, and to let her hair down. Although I was not always in love with the idea of doing it, I think, in retrospect, it was not such a bad thing." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, pp. 91-92)

When Friedman and Ryan turned their plot concept into a story, the name of the central Kazon character was Maranek, in common with the episode title. (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 37) Lisa Klink, who had a particular dislike of having to invent alien names, later struggled to come up with a moniker for the character. Her original suggestion was the name Merinax. Other suggested names included Merrick, Jarek, and Solman. The producers thought that Merinax "sounded too hokey, too artificial," and that Merrick was "too Earth-like, too human." Concerning the name Jerrick, they commented, "No, no, no that's too much like Sarek and Garak!" The name Solman won no support either. "And then I finally came up with Caylem, which they had to use because it was shooting the next day!" Klink recalled, laughing. "I'm sure it would have gone through another 10 more if I'd had more time!" (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6)

Michael Jan Friedman and Kevin Ryan originally envisioned Brian Dennehy in the role of Maranek. (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 36) However, Oscar-winning actor Joel Grey was ultimately cast in the role of Caylem after having repeatedly turned down invitations to appear in Star Trek: Voyager, never having seen an episode of the series before. Finally, he was sent the script for this episode and changed his mind about appearing on the series. "I would put it off for so long," Grey recalled, "but I couldn't anymore after I got that script. As soon as I signed on, I watched the show for the first time. I remember that being a funny experience. I just turned on the TV and there it was. I didn't even have to look for it. There it was for me to peruse. The shows I saw were pretty well done, as dramatic or as fun as they were intended to be. So, I thought 'Resistance' would be an adventure." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6) Friedman said of the casting choice, "The casting of the all-important guest star had gone completely contrary to what we [himself and Ryan] had in mind." (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 37)

Joel Grey thoroughly enjoyed working on the episode. He recalled of the experience, "I had a great time doing it. The people are so serious about their work, and so meticulous, but they also have a sense of fun. Everyone's care for the product was phenomenal – from Rick Berman to the actors to everyone else who puts the show together. I was also treated very well, so it was a very good experience." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6)

The episode also reunited Joel Grey with Janeway actress Kate Mulgrew, as they had previously worked together on the 1985 film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. Grey commented, "I loved working with Kate. We just had a great time. I had worked with her on Remo Williams, but most of my scenes in that movie were with Fred Ward. Kate and I hadn't really kept in touch over the years, but I was delighted when I read that she had gotten the role of Janeway [....] Rick Kolbe, Kate's boy friend, is a great guy and I think he did a nice job directing the show. We all got on very, very well." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6)

For his part, long-time Star Trek director Rick Kolbe found himself amazed by Mulgrew and Grey. "That was the parade piece for Kate and Joel Grey as far as I am concerned," the director raved. "They clicked immediately and had a wonderful relationship on screen and off [...] I was in awe. They were two talents having a wonderful time and it showed. It was probably the best acted piece I've been associated with on Star Trek." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15)

Both Michael Jan Friedman and Kevin Ryan were also very satisfied with Grey's performance in the episode. Friedman remarked, "As it turned out, Joel was brilliant. His performance was one of the best I've ever seen, on or off a Star Trek show, and I'm honored to have been in any way associated with it." (Star Trek Magazine issue 143, p. 37) Ryan similarly enthused, "I thought Joel Gray gave a wonderful performance, and to have the clout of an episode with an actor like that as a guest star was very satisfying." (Star Trek Monthly issue 11)

While working on this episode, actress Roxann Dawson not only enjoyed performing with Tim Russ, but also began to see relationship potentialities between their respective characters of B'Elanna Torres and Tuvok. The actress related, "I liked working with Tim Russ. That was the first show where I saw any potential for exploring the relationship between Tuvok and B'Elanna. I realized he could help her explore some of the imbalances in the way she views her Klingon and human sides." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #12)

Lisa Klink and Jeri Taylor struggled to ensure that production of the episode would not go over its budget. Referring to Taylor, Klink recalled, "We broke it together, and it was really difficult. It was a very expensive show since it all took place on a planet. And there was a journey, which implies moving from place to place to place, which means building set after set after set! And so trying to figure out how to do a show based on a planet that has people moving around from place to place, and to build just two sets – I mean, that was really a problem." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6) Klink also stated, "Budget was [...] a problem, because we generally build two new sets, and this whole thing takes place on an alien planet. They have to start out on this journey from someplace and end up someplace, and that's our two sets. Do they go anyplace in between? We have to build that too, then. It was an arduous [story] break. It went on a couple days. We ended up building three sets – a town square, the prison, and [Caylem's] cabin. We tried really hard to set in the cave set, which is a standing set, but just couldn't do it. It was a horrendously expensive episode." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages)

Working with Kate Mulgrew and Joel Grey, Rick Kolbe found the episode to be very easy to shoot. He noted, "As I director, I just sat there and said, 'You want to do it again? All right, fine. Let me know when you want to cut and print.'" (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15)

The official UPN trailer for this episode was highly sensationalistic, focusing on the plot point about Janeway playing a prostitute. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 91) Executive producer Michael Piller said of the promotion, "I fundamentally object to what [UPN] did on that episode. We are doing what I would like to think is the prototypical family show [...] Well, if I was watching the promotion for that show I would have seen a promotion that [depicted] cruel, unusual punishment, torture, pictures of people screaming, blood, and all sorts of terrible, horrible things, and then this shot of Janeway looking sexy: will Janeway give her body to save her crew? Well, as a parent, I'm not going to have my kids around the TV screen for that particular episode. Which is a shame because it was a warm, loving episode [...] There was a great deal of objection brought to [UPN's] attention." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 78)

This episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 5.9 million homes, and a 9% share. [3]

Following production, Kate Mulgrew and Joel Grey had a discussion in which Mulgrew enlightened Grey of the possibility that he might be brought back to the series. "Kate and I had a conversation after we finished 'Resistance' that really made me laugh," Grey recalled. "I thought that because I died at the show's end, that that was it for me there. I thought, 'I'm dead, gone, dead. Right?' Wrong! Kate said, 'Nope. This is Star Trek, Joel, and we can bring back anyone we want to bring back.'" Although Grey considered that – if he was invited for a return appearance that had a script as good as the one for this episode – he would be thrilled to return, the character of Caylem ultimately never reappears in the series. (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #6)